The Legend of Zelda: Time's Apocalypse
by Nocturne of Eclipse
Summary: Modern day Hyrule is a peaceful place, and all races and monsters besides Hylians and Gerudos have supposedly died out. When disaster strikes during the Festival of Time, history begins to repeat itself, and one young man must step forward as the Hero of Time to save the land from evil, as his ancestors did before him. Celebrating 25 years of Zelda in America.
1. Hyrule Castle City

_Zelda 2012_

Disclaimer: I do not own _The Legend of Zelda_ or any related characters.

It was nearing twelve thirty. The red numbers of the digital clock smirked down at the students sadistically, taunting them with the near silence of the room, save the occasional sniffles and coughs and the scratching of pen on paper. It was a quiz on the Hyrule Civil War that supposedly united the Hylians, Gorons, Zora, and Gerudo under one banner. Most students were putting down dates and places and the names of Goroni and Zoran warriors and leaders, believing them to be facts, and that magic and strange creatures and the sacred Golden Triangles existed at one point in history.

One student thought they were all on crack.

Mahas Glaradith- or Link, to his friends- was not one to believe in that sort of superstitious old-world shit. He preferred the here, the now, and the Time Goddess worshiped over in Termina. Not to say he wouldn't volunteer at the Temple of Time every other Saturday. He felt a sort of obligation to do so, truth be told, what with them taking care of him after his mother died during childbirth until his guardian, Viscen, adopted him.

It wasn't that he resented the history, of course. He loved the idea of it. He enjoyed researching Hylian history, especially when he found that his name was the Old Hylian equivalent of "Link", the name given to the Hero of Time in many stories. There were quite a few "Link"s all over Hyrule; parents seemed to believe that naming their children after the Hero of Legends would grant them obscene amounts of courage. Mahas was the only one he knew of that was named for the hero in the old, archaic language.

This was where the problems started. Once a Hylian hit high school, they stopped calling the hero "Link" and started calling him "Mahas" in the books; students learned some basic words from archaic Hylian and that every reincarnation of the hero was named "Mahas". And, well, Link, his name being what it was, was believed by many of his classmates to be descended from the Hero's family. He, of all people, should believe in Hyrule's lore, shouldn't he? That the Sacred Realm was real, that the Twilight Realm had once merged with the light world, that undead lived in the old, collapsed Temple in Karkariko? But he didn't. Volvagia? Dragons were completely illogical, they wouldn't have enough to eat in Hyrule. Bongo Bongo? What sort of lame name for a monster was _that_? A cursed mask that had the power to destroy the world? As _if_. Songs that could control time, the weather, summon horses, create magic... completely impossible. And the Gerudo race giving birth to men only once every hundred years? Complete bullshit. The Gerudo race may not have been as prominent as the Hylian race, but they lived in harsh desert environments. The entire idea behind the whole hundred-year-man thing was completely false, sparked by the Gerudo trend of finding boyfriends in Castle Town. And there was a good reason behind that trend, too, something to do with making sure their children were immune to certain diseases or whatever. This was a fact Mahas had always believed in, especially once Gary confirmed it for him.

Gary Dragmire was a Gerudo, himself. He hailed from deep within the desert, and sported the tan skin, golden eyes, and bright red hair typical of his race, though some people found his nose a little large and pointy. He was tall and lanky, and generally wore tight black clothing, often citing that he would never have been able to get away with wearing black in the desert without suffering a heatstroke. His mother had come to Castle City looking for work and had apparently found a good job with an archeology team at the university. Gary stayed in the city for schooling, while she was often out on digs and helping the excavation teams sift through ruins- apparently, being a Gerudo treasure hunter had its perks.

Being a Gerudo, Gary had a lot of flak to put up with. Many of their fellow students still believed in the whole "one man every lifetime" thing, and thought him to be a reincarnation of Ganondorf, which Link just found ridiculous. Just because someone was a Gerudo didn't make them evil, for example, the Spirit Sage, who was often considered to be a Gerudo woman. Their classmates often rebutted this fact with the idea that Gerudo women adhered to strict honor codes, and Gerudo men were just assholes. Gary was made a social outcast just as Link was- perhaps this was why they were such good friends, though the look on some of their peers' faces when they were seen hanging out together were hilarious enough to make the friendship worth it either way.

Link shook his head and ran his hand through his fine hair. He needed to focus. Tapping his pencil on the desk he read the next question.

_The Battle of the Haunted Wastelands took place between which two other skirmishes?_

The young man gnawed on his pen- was it Lake Hylia and Karkariko? But which came first? Karkariko, right? Hesitantly, Link lowered the tip of his ballpoint to fill in his answers, when all of a sudden he felt something hit the back of his head. Swearing under his breath he turned to find Gary eying him expectantly from the other side of the room. The Gerudo jerked his head towards the underside of Link's seat, and the Hylian frowned and looked down. An eraser was lying comfortably next to the leg of his desk, and he sighed and leaned down to pick it up.

_It was called Death Mountain for a reason, Glaradith._

Link sneered back over at Gary when the teacher wasn't looking and tossed it back, aiming to nail the tanned youth square in the face. Gary, however, was prepared and caught the pink rubber easily, waggling his eyebrows. Link flipped him off. Gary grinned. Turning back to his test, Link grabbed his ballpoint once more and wrote in his answer- Hylia before Karkariko. Karkariko, of course, was the last battle of the war. He'd have to thank Gary for saving his skin, later.

At approximately twelve twenty-three, the bell rang, and the students groaned as they handed in their quizzes and headed off to lunch. Link finished packing his pens into his bag and slung it over his shoulder as he waited for Gary to scribble a few hasty last answers and turn his quiz in.

"That was horrible," the blue-eyed youth sighed. "Seriously, who CARES about the Zoran alliances? They never freaking existed! I mean, come on, man, they were supposed to be freaking fish-people! The chances of that actually _happening_ are astronomically slim!" Gary snickered.

"Well, if they _did_ exist, they obviously weren't fit for survival like we were," he replied jestingly. "Gerudo are too bad-ass to go extinct- and let's face it, you Hylians breed like rabbits."

"Hey, man, there wouldn't have been a civil war in the first place if you glorified thieves had just sit down, shut up, and listened to the king," Link replied.

"You know what they say- we gotta fight! For our right! To _paaaaaaaar-TAY!_" The boys snickered as they took their usual lunch table underneath the clock. Gary had brought a lunch from home- some Gerudo delicacy that smelled horrible but was apparently very tasty. Link took a quick detour through the lunch line to get some synthesized food and frozen milk from the school system. Go school lunches. Rahh.

"So," he said once he'd sat down next to his friend, "you going on the field trip to the Spirit Temple?" Gary shrugged one shoulder non-comittedly.

"Eh," he replied. "I've been there a lot before on pilgrimages. You're not allowed to go very deep in, it's just like the first couple rooms and that's it. It's really nothing to be excited about. You?"

"I'm hoping to." Link grinned broadly. "I've always wanted to go out to the desert, since you've told me what it was like out there. I kind of want to try my hand at those Gerudo Training Grounds you keep talking about." Gary laughed.

"Link, they're not gonna let a skinny-ass knife-ears like you into the Fortress," he said. "It's for Gerudo warriors _only_. Besides, you don't even have a weapon."

"So? Even if I can't, I'm gonna try and get a sword at the festival this year, so I can do it next year," the Hylian replied. "One of the really nice swords, too. I've been saving up, you know."

"Oh, come on, _no one_ can ever make enough for a sword selling _masks_," Gary scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, Sato pays well as long as I get him the rupees!" Link protested. "And I even get _insurance_ from him! Seriously- health insurance from a guy who runs a freaking _mask shop_!" Gary shook his head and went back to his smelly Gerudo food. They continued to bicker about Sato's mask shop, and the conversation eventually carried over to the masks he sold, the creepiness of the Mask of Truth, the continued popularity of Keaton, and the upcoming festival.

"_Soooooo_, you gonna compete for the title of Hero, this year?" Gary asked. Link shrugged.

"Maybe. I mean, you win and get a shield out of it and a discount everywhere for the year, right?" He took a sip of his frozen milk and shuddered. Gary grinned broadly.

"And don't forget the _kiss~_!" he added in sing-song. Link frowned. "Oh, come on, I know how much you want that kiss from Zelda. The last time you saw her was during winter break, riiiiiight?"

"Oh, come off it, Gary!" Link snapped. "Zelda and I aren't dating!"

"Why _not_?" Gary pouted. "You'd make such a damn _cute_ couple."

"You know, asshole, sometimes I just want to punch you in the face."

"She still has your hat, right?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Ahh, I knew it, I knew it! You left it with her on purpose, didn't you? That way she'd _have_ to come find you eventually, as good of friends as you two are."

"What I want to know is why you don't like to hang out with her." Gary grimaced at that.

"It's not that I don't like hanging out with her," he replied, "it's just the fact that she's a Hylian _princess_. My mom _really_ wouldn't approve. You know how Gerudo are about Hylians."

"Geez, you dress like a punk, act like a bastard-"

"I _am_ a bastard, thank you very much."

"-and you're scared of what _Mommy'll_ think!" Link rolled his eyes.

"Hey, look at you," Gary sniffed. "You're worried about the field trip 'cause Viscen thinks the temple'll turn you evil! That's why he won't let you go to the Water Temple, either, right? 'Cause he's scared of the doppleganger that's supposed to live there?"

"That's _completely _different, and you know it, ass."

"No it _ain't_, elf-boy." Gary brushed his hair over his shoulder and packed his lunch box back up. "Look, just let him know that I'll be there to look after you, 'kay? I know the Temple better than any of you knife-ears." Link sighed.

"Yeah, like that's gonna reassure him," he replied. "He loves you to pieces, dude, but he still thinks you're irresponsible as hell."

"One time!" Gary protested. "_One time_ we got caught sneaking into Zelda's garden! Is that really all it takes to be considered irresponsible?"

"And the time you got caught shop-lifting in the bazaar."

"Okay, no, I wasn't shop-lifting, I told you, the guy was a scammer, he took my money!"

"The time you got caught cheating at the treasure chest game."

"They _never said_ you couldn't pick the locks!"

"The time you almost got us beat up at that bar and then we got arrested for having fake I.D.s?" Gary paused to think on that one for a second.

"Yeah, I got nothing on that one. But how was I supposed to know that those guys all had switchblades?" Link shook his head; Gary crossed his arms and pouted.

Despite his tendency to live life on the less-than-legal side, Gary truly was a good friend- while Viscen and Link liked to tease the young Gerudo of his various run-ins with the law and other mishaps, Gary took it in stride and remained fiercely loyal as a friend. He backed Link up against their less-than-friendly classmates and often helped him and Zelda sneak off to spend time together out of the public eye before disappearing. He never did tend to stay long around Zelda, and that confused Link from time to time. Gary's constant "Gerudo hate Hylians and royalty and hate them even more together" speech, while theoretically sound to Link, seemed to be more of an excuse than anything, primarily because when it came to that sort of xenophobia and royalty-o-phobia (Link made a mental note to search for the correct term on the Internet when he got home), Gary usually didn't give any form of shit that he felt like using in a sentence when asked about it. Link spent a little bit of time theorizing what his real reason was every now and then and came up with every possible answer from Gary being shy or having a crush on Zelda himself but feeling as though he didn't have a chance compared to Link, to Gary being the reincarnation of Ganondorf, King of Evil, or gay and not wanting to be jealous over Link being straight. He still hadn't arrived at a definite answer, but Gary being a gay reincarnation of the King of Evil was actually at the bottom of the list. The very, _very_ bottom, right under "actually Tingle from the Termina lore in disguise".

Gary checked his watch. "Oh, lunch period's almost over. I can't be late to homeroom, again, my teacher will kill me." Link grabbed Gary's wrist to check his watch, as well.

"Aw, bummer. Well, I'd say let's hang out after school, but I have work, today." The green-wearing Hylian reached up to high-five the Gerudo, and with an exchange of smiles, the two went their separate ways for the day. School passed by slowly after lunch, for Gary was in none of Link's afternoon classes, and that rendered them, sadly, boring. Especially trig. Trig could be sent to the realm of darkness, for all Link cared. He had two more tests that day, one in the thrice-damned trig, and one in the much more forgiving critical thinking, the former of which Link wanted to burn and the latter of which he was worried he may have slipped up on a question and gotten a mere ninety-eight percent.

When school ended, he caught Gary by his locker long enough to big the Gerudo goodbye, then went to his own locker to exchange a few of his books out and grab his skateboard. Once he'd made the mistake of leaving a skateboard in the front office with the other kids'; he'd returned at the end of the day to find it gone, only to be led outside by a grim-looking Gary who pointed to a broken, shattered pile of wood and wheels with a note on top condemning Link to be a Gerudo-lover. To be fair, he did love the Gerudo (every tale Gary told him of the compound in the desert absolutely thrilled him), but the fact that his classmates were so damn racist pissed him off. He was very close to punching the next kid who threw slurs around at he or Gary in the face. Hard.

The streets of Hyrule Castle town were always crowded around the time school let out, but Link expertly maneuvered around the pedestrians as he sped down the sidewalk. Sato's shop was in the center of the bazaar, small and ancient, and shaped like a mask, itself. His house was attached to the back of the shop, which must have been terribly expensive, and Link had no idea how the ginger Hylian could afford it, but then again, it wasn't any of his business. The lights were on, and a young couple were leaving just as Link approached and hopped off his skateboard, which was overall a good sign. Usually the shop only got a little business- for parties and weddings and tourists and the like. But festivals, such as the upcoming Festival of Time, saw an immediate spike in the number of sales- who would want a cheap, flimsy plastic mask from the department store when you could get one of Sato's quality hand-crafted works of art for such an important occasion?

The bell at the top of the door chimed as Link entered, and Sato glanced up from the cash register. He smiled when he saw who it was.

"Well, well, is it your day to work, already?" Link laughed.

"Sato, I'm the only employee you have. You know my schedule," he replied. Sato chuckled, as well, and shut the register.

"Of course I do, Link, of course I do," he said. "Why don't you put your board in the back and dust the masks on the floor, eh? Today's been a little slow for this time of year, and they sure could use it."

"Aye-aye, captain!" With a sloppy salute, Link vaulted himself over the counter, placed his skateboard in the back room, grabbed the duster, a bottle of Windex, and a 300 thread-count cloth they used to wash the masks before vaulting himself back over to begin his task. Sato was as laid-back as an employer could get. There wasn't a dress code, or anything- Sato himself wore a simple pair of slacks, sandals, and some t-shirt or another depicting various Sage Medallion or Goddess symbols. Today's, in fact, was a light blue with a darker blue symbol of Nayru on it. It offset Sato's red hair, but his narrow eyes and constant smile seemed to ease the contrast, somehow.

Often, as Link cared for the masks or worked the register, Sato would sit at his little work desk off to the side and create masks. Some days he carved from wood, others from stone, and occasionally he molded them with clay. It was a mesmerizing show for any of the customers who came in, and it was so second-nature to the mask salesman that he could craft them even when Link needed clarification on a customer's question and still answer thoughtfully.

"So," Sato said conversationally as he sat down to continue carving a Deku Scrub mask, "I see you're not wearing your hat." Link paused and glanced over his shoulder.

"Uhm... yeah," he replied awkwardly. "I forgot it in Zelda's garden the other day, when I went to visit."

"Must be nice to have a father who works at the castle," came the ginger prod. "You must get to see the princess very often. I bet the two of you are _very_ close, eh?" Link felt himself blush a little. Sato always seemed to know everything, even when he was just teasing, and he had this peculiar way of prodding the truth out of you whilst making you feel so Goddess-damned _embarrassed_, just by acting so damned _innocent_ about the whole thing. Of course, after working at the mask shop for so long, Link had learned exactly how to play his games.

"I guess we are," he said after another pause. "I mean, we get to hang out a lot, and it's not like she gets to spend time with many people her age. The King keeps her cooped up in the castle, he hires tutors and everything."

"Mmm." There was a long silence, and Link nearly thought Sato was done with the game until he spoke again. "What about your Gerudo friend, then? I don't suppose he likes to spend time with the princess, either?"

"Nah, he isn't too keen on it," Link sighed. "I dunno why. He has it out for Hylian royals, I guess?" As he moved onto the next mask, he cast a glanced at Sato to find him stopped, staring at the unfinished mask with dark, deeply thinking eyes. As if sensing Link's eyes on him, however, he glanced back as well, and smiled once more.

"Can you do me a favor and go ask Mia if she's seen my lacquer?" he asked. "I think right about now it's time for Najami to eat, so she may be in the kitchen with him."

"Alright." Link vaulted over the counter again and ventured back into Sato's house. He'd been inside a handful of times before, as Sato and his wife Mia lovede inviting him over for dinner, not only because he worked hard for them, but also, apparently, because he was very good with their baby son. True to Sato's suspicions, Mia was busy feeding Najami what seemed to be mashed bananas in the kitchen. "Hi, Ms. Mia!" he greeted as he approached. Mia glanced over from Najami and smiled.

"Hello, Link," she replied, "what do you need? Did Sato send you in?" Link nodded.

"He wanted his lacquer, I think. If you know where it is, I can go get it."

"Nonsense!" Mia's smile grew slightly. "Wait right here, I'll be right back." As she left for one of Sato's many stashes of materials, Link turned to baby Najami and smiled as he picked up the fun-colored plastic spoon in lieu of the boy's mother.

"C'mon, Najami, open wide," he cooed, "let's see if we can get a bit more into you before your mama gets back, huh?" Najami gurgled at him and tried to reach for the spoon. "Here comes the keese! Is the cave there? Kee, kee!" As Najami laughed at the ridiculous way Link was speaking, the Hero of Babysitting slipped the mashed banana spoon into his mouth, which said baby happily ingested. "Yeah, there we go."

"We'll make a proper father out of you, yet, Mahas," Mia laughed as she came back in. "Here's the lacqeur. Tell Sato not to stay in the shop too late, tonight, alright?"

"Will do, Ms. Mia. Thanks!" With an enthusiastic wave to Najami, Link returned back to the shop, and placed the lacquer on Sato's desk.

"Thank you, Link," the mask salesman replied. "Now try this on and tell me if the eye holes are alright." Link obediently took the mask and put it on, blinking for a moment to get used to the limited vision it allowed.

"They seem about right. The left one is a little bit smaller than the right one, but it doesn't make enough of a difference to be an issue." He grinned and handed the mask back to Sato. "Another keeper, Sato. You're amazing." The salesman laughed as he began to paint the lacquer onto the mask.

"I'm alright," he replied modestly. "Some of these masks I'm not entirely capable of making, not well. I'm going out to the desert next week to search for some new ones."

"Oh, really?" Link returned to cleaning the masks on display. "My class is going out on a field trip to the Spirit Temple, then. Maybe we'll run into each other!" Sato didn't reply- doing the finish was a delicate work, possibly even moreso than the initial carving of the mask, and so Link decided to leave Sato alone, though he could have sworn he heard the mask salesman mutter "Oh, we'll be seeing each other... we'll be seeing each other, indeed..."

There were several more customers before closing time, and as Sato was busy finishing the deku mask, Link assisted all of them and subsequently got several more sales before he had to lock up. The return home was uneventful as always, and when the lights were off and Viscen hadn't yet returned, Link wasn't entirely surprised. He dropped his keys in the bowl by the door and went to drop his backpack and skateboard on his bed before going to raid the fridge. It was virtually empty, which was in no way a surprise, either, and he settled for a bottle of Lon Lon chocolate milk and the last piece of cake from Najami's birthday that Mia had sent home with him, flopped down with it on the couch, and turned on the TV to watch the news. There wasn't much- a couple more disappearances out in the Lost Woods, the upcoming festival, and the dropping water level of Lake Hylia. The drought needed to end soon, seriously.

It was nearing midnight when Viscen finally returned, and by then Link was half-asleep as the TV aired some sitcom or another that neither of them watched. He would have fallen asleep there, too, if Viscen hadn't gently shook him back to complete consciousness.

"Mahas, what are you still doing up?" Viscen was tall, lean, and wirey- not what one would expect for the captain of the King's guard and army, though his tactical brilliance and devotion more than made up for it. Link had always admired him for that. "I know tomorrow's the weekend, but you really should be in bed, now."

"Sorry," Link yawned. "I didn't think you'd be out this late. I was just hoping to talk to you before I went to sleep."

"Oh?" Viscen settled down on the couch next to him. "About what?" Link shrugged one shoulder non-commitedly.

"I dunno, just the field trip, I guess," he murmured. Viscen sighed.

"Mahas... I know you don't think it's fair, but the Spirit Temple can be _very_ dangerous," he replied. "You're the adventurous sort- you'd run off and get yourself hurt."

"Well then why can't I take a sword?" The green punk frowned. "You're worried about the monsters that are supposed to live in there, right?"

"Not just the monsters, Mahas, the _traps_. And I know you don't believe in the monsters, but you _do_ believe in traps, and there are probably plenty of those still active inside."

"And the sword?"

"Not until you're seventeen, Mahas."

"A dagger, then- even ten-year-olds are allowed to have daggers." Viscen sighed heavily. "Sato said he was going there the same time my class was." The soldier raised an eyebrow and stared Link down; the blond youth replied with an unwavering blue stare of his own. Finally, the soldier gave another sigh, and shrugged.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" When Link affirmed his suspicions, he grabbed the permission form that had been laying on their coffee table for the past week, signed it, and stood to fax it. "But you have to stick with Gary the entire time, alright?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Now go to bed."

"Yes, Dad. Goodnight." Not wanting to press his luck, Link did as instructed, and trudged back through the flat to his bedroom. He cast a glance at himself in the mirror before he changed- he supposed he did wear a little too much green for being named "Mahas". Maybe that's why his peers gave him a hard time. A bright green jacket and striped green-and-white shirt _and_ his slightly ragged, torn dark green pants? Yeah. A _little _too much. But it was his favorite color, so it wasn't like he was gonna stop wearing it any time soon. He undid the tie of his small ponytail (he really was used to wearing his green knit cap- it had been weird for everyone to see how long his hair actually was) and changed into his pajamas before turning off the lights and slipping into bed. If he had bothered to look at the mirror again after the lights went out, he would have been shocked to see his own dark silhouette staring out at him with demonic, glowing red eyes.

* * *

**So, yeah. Zelda 2012 beginning. Yippee. I feel like it was kind of rushed, but, meh, everything got done that needed to be done. I just finished mapping out the basic plot last night and actually mapping out Hyrule and Termina so I can keep everything straight. Next time: field trip to the desert! Reviews and criticism are always welcome!**


	2. Spirit Temple Child Side

******Thanks to my reviewers! Every last one helps me stay motivated. :) I do hope this doesn't disappoint.**

There were two things Mahas hated in the world above all else: first was trig, of course; the second was alarm clocks. They were loud, annoying, and only served as a reminder that a day chock-full of boring lay ahead of him. Casting an idle glance to the glowing digital numbers on the clock's face, he groggily wondered why it had been set to go off at four in the morning. Waking at six was hard enough- waking at four was only acceptable around specific holidays, such as Nayru's Freezing. With a disgruntled grunt, Link slapped the snooze button and rolled back over, burying his face into his pillow and pulling his blankets closer.

The weekend had been long: his Saturday was spent, as always, at the Temple of Time. They'd needed him to play the Song of the Goddess, Farore's Courage, Nayru's Wisdom, and Din's Power on the harp, as their usual harp-player was, unfortunately, sick. To be honest, Link had wanted to play the Song of Time and the Sage's Symphony on the ocarina, but the ocarina player was as healthy as ever. So sad, so sad. After the sermon, Link had hung around to wash the floors and the pedestal for the Sacred Stones, wondering all the while if the Sacred Stones were real- not their supposed magic powers, of course, that was out of the question, but the stones, themselves. They'd been lost for centuries, if they'd been real at all. When his volunteer work had finished he'd met Gary for lunch, and told him the good news about Viscen's decision to let him go on the field trip. They'd made plans for Sunday to go shopping, as Gary was adamant that Link owned absolutely nothing that would be fit to wear in the desert.

As Gary was in fact the expert of the two when it came to the desert, Link agreed to his decision whole-heartedly, and the two had spent Sunday poking in and out of shops to try and find at least a single desert-worthy outfit. They'd gotten quite a few odd looks, but they'd laughed it off and occasionally played along, hanging off of each other and acting dramatically infatuated- and while they hadn't actually found anything for Link to wear, they'd gotten several good laughs out of it for their efforts. They'd also tried to drop in on Sato at the mask shop- however, the lights were off, and a sign proclaiming the shop closed for several days led the boys to the conclusion that the ginger Hylian had already left for the Spirit Temple. The day had ended with a trip to the arcade, in which Gary had proceeded to severely own the entire gamer population at _Dance Dance Revolution_ and Link had destroyed anyone who had attempted to play him at _Soul Calibur_. Over all, the weekend had been very good.

When he was done reliving the past two days, Link finally attempted to get back to sleep. He heard someone stomping around out in the living room, but assumed it was just Viscen getting ready for work and tried to ignore him. There was some quiet murmuring; maybe he'd misplaced his bracers, again? But then he manged to pick out a second pair of footsteps- these almost silent in their movement, given only away by the slight creaking of the flat's floorboards.

Oh, shit. Burglars. Slowly, Link's hand slid under his pillow, gripping the hilt of the dagger he kept there. He wouldn't attack unless they came directly at him- and the surprise attack would only work once, at that. There was another creak, this one slower and distinctly louder- a sliver of light raced across the floor, illuminating part of the mirror, and Link froze, his grip on the hilt tightening. The door creaked open further, and the footsteps advanced, instantly becoming muffled in the plush carpet. This was it. He had to be ready- aim for the guy's arm or something. Something to disable him. He waited for the intruder to draw closer and was about to whip out the dagger and slash when, all of a sudden, the stranger leaped and landed on top of him, glomping him. He felt a rather long strand of silky hair that distinctly wasn't his fall into his face.

"_Liiinnnnnk~_! Wakey wakey, or you're gonna be _laaaaatteeee~_!" Oh. It was Gary. The young Hylian let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and frowned, withdrawing his hand from his weapon and shoving Gary off. The Gerudo rolled to the floor and then sat up, grinning. "I brought you some of my old clothes. They may still be a little big on you, but they'll get the job done. Now hurry and get up, we need to be to school by five thirty so we don't miss the bus!" Link stared at him.

"Why did Viscen let you in?" he finally asked. Gary shrugged.

"'Cause he loves me? I dunno." His grin, if possible, broadened. "Seriously, hurry up. I made breakfast and snacks for the road, and if you take too long, there won't be any left!" He stood and dusted himself off. "I'll leave you to it, then!" He then proceeded to prance out of the room obnoxiously. Link groaned. He never did understand morning people. After a moment to process everything that had just happened, he rolled out of bed, himself, and went to shut the door the remainder of the way and turn the light on. It seemed Gary had left the clothes in a bag on his bed, and, curious, Link tore the plastic open and pulled the articles out. There were only two sets of any given item in the bag, not including shoes. One of the outfits was the off-white of old linen; the other was a pale red-orange with yellow embroidery. Both outfits consisted of a cropped vest, a pair of simple, loose pants with elastic in the waist and ankles, and a pair of sun-bleached moccasins. All in all, it looked pretty damn comfortable. Link slipped on the white outfit with the moccasins, packed the other outfit into his travel bag with a pad of paper, some pens, and his dagger, and exited into the den, turning the bedroom light off behind him.

Gary was waiting patiently on the couch, blabbering on to Viscen about the Gerudo Fortress and the family he had there; Viscen wasn't even really listening, to be honest, he still looked half-asleep and was drinking a mug of Windmill brand coffee. Link went to grab a bottle of Lon Lon milk and grunted something when Gary addressed a comment to him. When he finished, he washed the bottle out, dried it quickly with a paper towel, and shoved it, as well, into his travel bag.

"So?" Gary asked at long-last. "Are we ready? We have maybe forty minutes- that's long enough to get there in time, right? If we run?"

"Even if we walk we'll get there with twenty minutes to spare," Link replied. "But, sure, we can go now. What about that breakfast you were talking about?"

"We can eat while we walk, it's a recipe for the pilgrimages to the Temple."

"Ahh. Fitting." After bidding goodbye to Viscen, who looked as pleased as could be that the two boys were going to be out of his hair and that he could go back to sleep, Link and Gary left, taking a left at the street corner and setting off for their school. As they walked, Gary continued to chatter on and on about the Fortress, which Link half-listened to. It was hard to be enthusiastic this early in the morning. They were about half-way to the school when Gary finally remembered the food he'd promised.

"I almost forgot!" he exclaimed above Link's protests of "not so damned loud". He opened his side bag, and, smiling, produced some oddly-textured balls of edibleness. "Here, give it a try, see what you think. I've been working to get it right since we moved here, and I think I finally got it." Link stared at it.

"It's not gonna be like that Gerudo dragonfly candy you made me eat once, is it?" he asked after a moment. Gary laughed.

"I promise, when this stuff is made right, there isn't a single person alive, Gerudo or Hylian, who can resist it," he replied, popping one in his mouth. "Go on. Try it." At Gary's insistence, Link took one of the smaller ones and gave it a hesitant sniff. It smelled a little musty, but at the same time, sweet, with a hint of spice- it was also a little sticky. After a moment of debate, he bit into half of it. At its core was some sort of dried berries, its outside "shell" being an odd kind of animal fat and some Gerudo spiced honey. It was actually very delicious, and Link quickly ate the other half. "Well?"

"It's good." He grinned. "Just what you need to kick something like this off." Gary laughed.

"Yeah, it is. It's great when you go traveling out in the desert because it has all the protein and sugar you need to stay energized. In fact, the spices in the honey-" Link ignored Gary as soon as he started ranting. He'd go on for a while and probably retell him the whole thing later on the bus, so really, it wasn't like he was missing anything. Although, he_ was _worried they would run out of the protein snack rather quickly at the rate the two were munching, but Gary encouraged him to eat as much as he wanted, claiming he could simply make more when they got out into the desert and he could get into the Fortress.

True to Link's speculations, they arrived at school twenty minutes before the bus left- however, it seemed the two friends were barely in time for role, and the teachers were a little upset with them for that (and, apparently, their choice in clothes, but no one ever said that had to stay in dress code). Thankfully, they weren't left behind, and were able to intimidate their way into getting the seats in the very back. The sun was starting to rise as the bus pulled into the streets and then onto the interprov. Link couldn't help but stare and admire the beauty of the sun's soft pink glow dyeing the sky and Great Planes. It was a wonderful way to start the journey.

After a moment of staring out the window, Gary nudged him. "Hey," he said, "if you think _that's_ pretty, wait until you see the sunrise on the Haunted Wasteland. It's _amazing_." Link cocked an eyebrow.

"You know, you'd think any sort of wasteland, haunted or otherwise, wouldn't be much to look at, dawn or dusk," he replied. "You're really excited to be going back, huh?" The other boy laughed.

"Is it _that_ obvious?" Gary asked. "I was trying to tone it down a bit." Link laughed as well.

"Tone it down? It's _all_ you've been talking about all morning!" He waved one of the protein balls at him. "And you made _Gerudo_ food- then again, it's all you ever eat, but _still_."

"_Bah_, non-believer!" Gary waved his comments off with one hand. "Not everything is like the damned dragonfly candy, if you actually _tried_ half of it, you'd _like_ it."

"Tried what?" One of the guys sitting in front of them turned around, smirking down at them. "Trying to talk your boyfriend into gay sex, Dragmire?" Link scowled at him. Groose was the worst sort of jock, and was always picking on the two of them. He was huge, well-toned from years of sports, and felt entitled to treat the two outcasts however he wanted. Link would have loved to tear him a new one, however, there were usually too many witnesses, and Gary seemed to take everything Groose said in good spirits.

"Nah, I don't think he's into dudes," said Gerudo replied easily. "But I guess you wanted first crack if he was, huh?" Link smirked as Groose immediately became flustered. "Anyways, I'm just trying to get him to branch out and eat some ethnic food. Wanna try? I brought some good stuff." He reached into his bag and produced the protein ball and something that looked suspiciously like a brownie, decorated with what looked like sugar hardened to be quite glass-like. Link immediately recognized it, and snorted.

"Why the hell would I eat that shit?" Groose growled, still rather flustered. "It's probably poisoned!"

"We've been eating it all morning," Link piped in. He pointed to the protein ball. "This is a Gerudo Moth Ball, which is alright, and _this-_" he pointed to the brownie-type food- "is just a brownie with flavored sugar in it." Gary grinned broadly and held them out further. Groose looked highly suspicious, but he took the brownie and after a quick sniff, took a bite.

"_Ugh_!" Link and Gary burst out laughing at the bully's expression. The so-called "sugar" wasn't sugar at all- it was the wings and eyes of a Gerudo dragonfly, and to anyone who normally didn't eat it, dragonfly candy was downright _nasty_.

"_The look- the look on your face!_" Gary managed to gasp out. "_Priceless!_"

"Is that what I looked like?" Link asked when he finally managed to calm down. "When I tried some?" Gary nodded and laughed harder; Link joined right back in.

"I'm gonna get you two back for this!" Groose growled. For once, they ignored him.

"Oh, man!" Once they had finally calmed down, they returned to eating the protein balls. "That was great. Din's Fire, I _love _feeding Hylians dragonflies."

"You're _terrible_." Link shook his head amusedly. Groose didn't bother them for the rest of the drive. Gary used the rest of the seven hours to entertain Link with more stories of the Fortress and the ways the Gerudo led their lives. Apparently there was also a fortress down in Termina, because Gary often mentioned his cousins who lived there, one of which he wasn't actually supposed to talk about because she had moved into Clock City and married a Terminian there, or something.

It took about one of the seven hours of Gary ranting nearly non-stop, but eventually, one of their classmates several seats forward turned around and hollered a question back at the Gerudo, who eagerly turned his attention away from Link to answer. Link watched, amused, as more and more questions about the desert were asked. Gary answered each of them completely, giving more and more interesting stories in return, and as he did, more and more of their classmates clustered towards the back of the bus to listen in. Gary simply seemed excited to have such a large audience. Link, on the other hand, was awed, and at the same time, somewhat disgusted- these were the same classmates that threw racial slurs around and tried to make Gary's life a living hell at their whim, and all of a sudden, simply because he knew more about the desert than they, they were treating him as though they were all his friends. Eventually Link's growing disgust became so bad he had to turn his gaze back to the window and ignore everyone.

When nearly all seven hours had passed, Link reached out to tug on Gary's vest. The bus was passing through the Haunted Wasteland's gates, pausing only to pay the toll, and was soon pulling into the campsite. The other students seemed to find the idea of sleeping in tents quite novel, though there were plenty of moans and groans about the lack of air conditioning. Gary became impatient when everyone was getting off the bus, purely because they were taking so long, and Link was forced to wait through the Gerudo's constant whines and complaints until finally, they were able to hop down the steps and into the warm sand. Gary inhaled the warm air deeply and stretched, soaking in as much of the harsh sun as he could.

"It's been way too long...," he murmured. "_Way_ too long..."

"Hey, before you get all nostalgic and start rolling around in the sand, let's pick a tent," Link said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Is there some ancient Gerudo secret for finding a good place to sleep?" Gary rolled his eyes.

"Not particularly," he replied. "We just need to find one that's sunken in a little, you know, keep out of the wind, and all. C'mon." They wandered around the camp site for almost ten minutes, almost literally shoving their classmates out of the way of tents as Gary inspected them. Everyone was getting really pissed off with the two- Link found himself wondering if they would try and smother them in their sleep. Maybe he would sleep with his dagger under his pillow, again. Eventually, Gary found a suitable tent, and after kicking out the duo who had gotten there first, the two boys set their belongings down and hid them under some blankets.

The trip itself lasted only two days, so they would only need the camp site for the one night. The first day, today, was spent on a guided tour of the Desert Colossus and its excavation site. The second day was left open for self-guided tours, with the bus leaving at four in the afternoon, placing them back in Castle City by eleven at night, give or take, depending on traffic. Gary eagerly spoke of using the second day to visit the Gerudo Training Grounds and get his membership renewed. Link dropped not-so-subtle hints that he wanted to tag along; Gary asserted that the guards would never let him in.

After several more minutes of bickering, the class was hailed back into the open desert by the teachers. Most of the students groaned at the heat. Gary, however was perfectly fine- and though Link found it rather warm, the Gerudo clothing Gary made him wear let enough of a breeze in that it was bearable. They were shepherded through the gates and into the colossus, where a Gerudo tour guide was waiting for them.

"Nasha!" Gary called, jumping and waving from the back of the group. "Nasha, hey!" The Gerudo woman smiled and waved back.

"Hey, Little Cousin!" she replied. "It's great to see you- let's talk later, okay?" She glanced around the group of students. "Welcome to the Desert Colossus and Temple Tour. I'll be your tour guide today, if you haven't guessed already. I'll be taking you all on a walking tour of the Colossus, and a little bit of the Spirit Temple, too. When we enter the Temple, do me a favor and don't touch anything- we've left _plenty_ of the traps active, and I don't want to have to scrape charred Hylian off the walls. You can't imagine the smell." She smiled as the students frowned, possibly wondering if she was being serious. Link wasn't so sure- he couldn't imagine that the Gerudo would want any lawsuits on their hands.

Nasha set off at a steady pace, almost floating over the sand as the Hylians trudged on behind her. She took them around to the oasis and a rock by a random limestone wall that were both said to be home to fairies, or something like that. Link really stopped paying attention to what she was saying the first time the word "leevers" came out of her mouth. Gary didn't seem much interested in what she was saying, either; he was a little more preoccupied by the odd sight of one ginger Hylian being forcibly removed from the Spirit Temple and thrown to the sand by a Gerudo guardswoman. The two friends exchanged glances and broke away from their group, hurrying over.

"Was that really necessary?" Sato snapped as he pushed himself back onto his heels and spit sand out of his mouth. "Goddesses' grace, you'd think they could be a little more _gentle_..."

"Hey!" The Gerudo woman came back out and heaved a large backpack into the sand, nearly hitting him. Sato immediately let out a yelp and scrambled to make sure everything inside was intact. "You forgot this!" The ginger Hylian cursed colorfully as the Gerudo went back into the temple and muttered under his breath as he stood and put on his backpack, forcing him to bend over to compensate for its size and weight.

"Sato!" Link greeted. "What's going on?" Sato turned, blinking, and upon seeing who it was, grinned.

"Well, well, looks like we ran into each other after all!" he exclaimed. "How's the field trip going, boys?" Link shrugged.

"Eh, can't complain." Gary snorted.

"That's it? That's all you have?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "_'Can't complain'_? This is the _best_ field trip our class's taken!" Sato laughed.

"Better than mine, it sounds like." He cast a weary gaze back towards the temple. "I've heard rumors of some wonderful masks hidden inside this place, but one of the paths is blocked, and you have to crawl through the other. They caught me trying to shimmie my way in."

"You're actually trying to go into the main Temple?" Gary raised an eyebrow quizzically. "They only let you in if you're with the excavation team. Didn't you know that?" Sato frowned deeply.

"I did, in fact," he replied, "but I couldn't find anyone willing to let me borrow their pass. Sneaking in is the only option I have left." Link glanced at Gary.

"Why don't you let him borrow your pass?" he asked. "Chances are he'll only need it for a few hours." He turned his gaze back to Sato. "You'll only need it for a few hours, right?" Sato laughed again.

"I can have it back to you sometime tomorrow morning, I think," he replied. "That's if it's possible to work my way through the entire Temple- you have to wonder how much of it is actually left, and how much of _that_ is still accessible." Gary slowly pulled his wallet from his pocket and stared at his excavation pass.

"I dunno," he murmured, "if I run into my mom and she finds out I gave it away to a _Hylian_ of all people..."

"C'mon, Gary." Link grasped his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. "Your mom's not even _at_ this dig. Didn't you say she was at the Arbiter's Grounds?"

"Yeah, but...-"

"Then there's no problem! Sato can use the pass until tomorrow, and when he gives it back, I guarantee you, you won't have gotten into any trouble!" Sato peered over their heads, looking mildly amused.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Link," he said teasingly. Link blinked and turned around, only to come face-to-face with their history teacher.

"Mahas! Gary!" he snapped. "You're supposed to stay with the class!"

"Sorry!" Link grinned sheepishly. "Gary got bored, and you know I don't believe in half the crap Nasha was talking about..."

"That's no excuse!" Their teacher continued to lecture them as Gary slipped Sato the excavation pass, and with a quick murmur of thanks, the mask salesman disappeared back into the temple. Once their teacher was finished yelling, he grabbed them both by the upper arm and dragged them back to meet with the class, who had just finished being told the story of the desert warp panel. Again stuck at the back of the group, but with the history teacher just behind them, Gary and Link were forced to follow everyone into the entrance area of the Temple, where the only interested thing they saw was the sight of Sato trying to crawl through the pathway on the left, and a large piece of some dark rock with an odd carving in it blocking the way on the right. Nasha said something about how nothing they had tried could move it, and recounted a tale of a pair of gauntlets that would let the wearer move random heavy chunks of magical stones. Link zoned out as she spoke and soon, Nasha led them back outside and towards a small museum.

It wasn't huge, but it was long, and filled with interesting trinkets the excavators had found in the desert. Among them was pottery that was said to able to fly and attack unwitting explorers, the sword of an Iron Knuckle, and a peculiar shield, somewhat rusted, with a red border and silver middle. A crescent moon and a star in the middle were somewhat discernible on its surface.

"This is a mirror shield made with traditional Gerudo glass-blowing and metal-working techniques," Nasha was saying. "It was used only by warriors stationed in the Spirit Temple, though legends say that one was taken from there by the Hero of Time, himself."

It must have been beautiful when it was made, Link mused as he stared at it from behind several of his classmates. It was such a shame that time was merciless. He could just imagine how it must have looked- bright, shining in the desert sun, blinding thieves who tried to defile the temple- he kind of wanted one. They were allowed to look around the museum for a little while, before they were all pulled into a small room and told to sit as the doors were closed and the lights were lowered. A documentary was shown on the Gerudo Desert area, which encompassed the Colossus, the Arbiter's Grounds, and the Haunted Wasteland. By the time it was over, the sun was almost set, and so they were herded back to the campsite.

Dinner consisted of some of the local food, which Link was hesitant to eat, but tried nonetheless. Gary ran around trying to get anyone he could to eat the more acquired tastes and laughed at them when they fell for it. The evening ended with Nasha telling the students about some Gerudo customs and cultural backgrounds, proceeding to brag about how her little cousin was the best _veska-_player in the fortress- which, of course, prompted questions on what a veska was (it was basically a long block of clay, hollowed out in the middle with an opening on one side and strings run across it; a Gerudo guitar, so to speak), and if Gary would play something for them. After much pestering, Gary agreed, and played several Gerudo folksongs (including one brought back by those returning from work at the Great Bay, _Rime of the Wanderin' Seafarer_). Eventually the history teacher yelled at them all to go to bed, and with much grumbling and complaints about how cold the desert was at night, the students all retired to their tents.

"I get how this getup is useful during the day," Link grumbled as he curled up under his blanket, "but Termina dammit, it leaves you _freezing_ at night!"

"The secret is we all usually huddle together at night," Gary yawned. "It's not such a big deal with us, y'know, getting all cuddly and stuff. I don't think anyone would believe it, though, not with the image we put out." Link snorted.

"They're all ready to believe you're nothing but a bunch of godless cutthroats who's only culture is thievery and assassination," he grumbled. "I'd bet you my entire savings that I was the only Hylian here who knew _all_ of those songs you played."

"Someone's _pissy_~!" Gary grinned at him from under his own blanket. "I think he needs a _hug~_!"

"I don't need a hug."

"Awwww, yes you _dooooo_, little PMSing child."

"I _don't_ need a hug."

"Yeeeaaaaahhhh, that's what they all say- glomp time, get over here, knife-ears."

"And you wonder why everyone thinks you're gay?"

"No, I wonder why everyone thinks _you're_ gay, I _know_ why they think _I'm_ gay. Now get your skinny ass over here and we'll have ourselves a straight, manly-man hug." They went back and forth like this for quite some time until they were yelled at (again), because apparently everyone else could hear every last thing they said. Link was rather embarrassed by this fact, but Gary simply laughed it off and went to sleep.

Link himself wasn't quite sure when he fell asleep, but he did know that the sand made for an astonishingly comfortable bed, moreso than he first thought it would. He woke remarkably well-rested, even if it were to a loud, obnoxious argument. The blond Hylian groaned and pulled his blanket up over his head, missing the familiar warmth of his hat.

"No, Gary, you're not listening to me- you could have been _hurt_ and then _I_-!"

"No, _you_ listen, you damned, overbearing, oppressive _Hylian_! I fucking _live_ in this desert and I'm not gonna let you or any other bleached knife-ears tell me where the fuck I can and can't go in my _own fucking home_!"

"You're not seeing the point here, the desert is a dangerous place, and-!"

"_I fucking. Live. In the desert_. The Fortress is _literally_ only half a fucking mile away and the Sea of Sand hasn't been a dangerous place in _centuries_!" Link groaned again as the argument continued, with both Gary and the history teacher getting progressively more angry with each other until finally, with much swearing, Gary stormed back into the tent, dropped his halberd to the side and flopped down on his blanket, muttering.

"Way to go, Gary," Link deadpanned as he closed his eyes to go back to sleep. "Makin' friends with the teachers. I'm so proud of you."

"You shut the fuck up," Gary snapped half-heartedly. "Those damned bleach-skins wonder why Gerudo won't let them into the Fortress. They'd try and tear the whole goddesses-damned place down." Link sighed and sat up, raising an eyebrow.

"It's probably more like you didn't tell anyone," he said. "Hell, you didn't even tell _me_."

"So I need _your_ permission to go anywhere, do I?" Gary growled. Link face-palmed.

"That's not what I meant, you dick," he sighed. "Alright, you know what, let's just drop it. How about I get changed and we go check out the Spirit Temple, huh? That'll make _both _of us feel better." His friend immediately deflated.

"Yeah, alright," he agreed. He waited patiently as Link found his travel bag and changed into the pale red outfit, playing with his halberd until the latter announced his readiness. They left the tent, passing by the livid teacher and severely grumpy classmates as they headed off towards the temple. The two took a quick detour by the spring so Link could fill his empty bottle with water, and Gary his canteen, and then by the museum to pick up some replica Dungeon Maps based on the assumed original layout of the temple. They laughed and joked about fighting Iron Knuckles as they finally approached the Spirit Temple, though something felt a little..._ off_... to Link. The Temple had a much different aura surrounding it than the day before, but he couldn't quite place it.

"That's odd," Gary mused as they hiked up the steps. "I don't think there's anyone here."

"That _is_ strange," Link agreed as they entered, "there were plenty of guards here yesterday. I wonder where they all are." He watched Gary wander over to the right side of the entrance chamber and then turned his gaze towards the left. The entry itself was large and spacious, carved of limestone as was its surrounding cliffs and such. There were chunks of the stuff lying around- idly, he supposed it wouldn't hold up forever, and wondered how long the temple itself had existed. His wonders had to cease there for the moment, however, as Gary glanced over and spoke.

"Hey, Link... do you hear something...?" Link frowned back over at Gary.

"Now that you mention it... I kinda do..."

"It sounds like screaming." The sound began to grow louder; Link blinked and glanced back at the small crawlway on the left side. The screaming was even louder, now, its owner just on the other side of the crawlway; whoever it was, they were trying to shove something through back to Link's side.

"HELP! OH, HYLIA, SOMEBODY _HELP_!" Link quickly dropped to his knees, grabbing whatever it was the person was trying to forced back, and with quite a few ferocious tugs, the object, revealed to be a large backpack, came free and exploded into the entrance. Link then proceeded to help whoever it wad through. "Oh! Hylia! Oh, thank you, I thought I was dead for sure, and-!" Link blinked as the ginger Hylian frantically searched himself and, panicking, threw himself at his bag, digging through it quickly. "No, no, nonono_nononononooooooo_...! It's not here...! I must have dropped it!" Link squatted next to him.

"Sato, what happened?" His employer looked completely devastated.

"I got the mask, but I dropped it...!" he whined. "I was _so close_...!"

"Why where you freaking out so hard?" Gary piped in, hopping over to join them. Sato sighed.

"I... don't know what it was, but..." He cast a weary glance back towards the crawlway. "It was big, armored, had a sword, and wanted to kill me." Link snorted.

"Are you suggesting there's someone _living_ back there?" he asked. "Sato, this place has been empty for _hundreds_ if not _thousands_ of years. It was probably your imagination playing tricks on you." Sato pouted.

"Either way, my mask is still back there!" the salesman said. He sighed. "Now I'll _never_ get it back..." Gary and Link exchanged grimaces. "_Unless_..." Sato slowly glanced up at them. "Unless... _you two_ get it back for me?" The two friends froze and slowly turned their gazes back to Sato.

"...You want us to go in _there_." Gary pointed towards the crawlway. "The place you just came _running_ and _screaming_ out of." Sato nodded. "And you don't think that's a little bit irresponsible on your part?" Sato shook his head and smiled.

"I'm sure you two would be able to handle whatever it was that came after me," he said, "and I thought you weren't afraid of the desert, Gary..." Gary sneered.

"I'm not afraid of _anything_ that's back there!" he protested. "Big an armored? I'll take this creep down without any help!" Link rolled his eyes.

"There's nothing _back there_," he asserted. "I'll prove it to you. Come on, let's go!" The two boys stood, dusted the sand off their pants, and once Gary had gotten his pass back from Sato, proceeded to crawl through the tunnel to the left side of the Spirit Temple.

The first room they came upon was large and spacious, and there was no sign of any malevolent being waiting to ambush them- in fact, it looked as if no one had been there at all in a very long time. It opened to their right as they pressed forward, where the remains of a rug and a spike trap lay, coated in dust and rust. From there, there were two doors, and a cave-in where it appeared there had once been a third. The door on the left was locked tight; the one on the right was opened.

"Let's see if we can snap the padlock," Gary suggested. The two went to the door on the left and peered at it. The padlock itself was devoid of rust and seemed well-oiled. "Huh. I guess one of our people locked this sucker."

"I guess we should look around for a key," Link sighed. "There wasn't any in here, though- let's try the other door."

"Good call." The room through the door on the right was dark- very dark. It was practically pitch-black, but it seemed, of the two of them, Gary was prepared. He lit a match, handed it to Link, and then lit one for himself. "Too bad we don't have torches." Link used his meager light to begin exploring. There was an old, creaky grate bridge connecting the two halves of the room- under it was more darkness, but he wasn't feeling brave enough to explore it, truth be told. On their half of the room was also two torches, luckily enough. Link dropped his match into one to light it, and smiled when the flame grew, allowing the two to see a little better.

"Look," he said, "there's another one. Light it?" Gary went to drop his own match into the other torch as Link picked up a scrap of wood off the floor, possibly from an old torch that had been replaced. He used it to make a makeshift torch to carry, and began to cross the bridge.

"Careful!" Gary called. "It looks unstable!" Link took several more uneasy steps and soon found himself on the other side of the bridge. There were two more torches at the end of the bridge, and he lit them both. The light of the four fires were enough to make out the shape of something long and box-like in the corner; curious, Link went to investigate.

As he neared, he kneeled and ran his hand over the surface. It was a wooden chest, old and petrified, and he could feel intricate carvings on its surface; he moved his makeshift torch close to its surface to find the latch, and opened it. There was something small inside- small and silvery. He reached in and pulled it out, turning around so it would catch the light better. It was a small key, and the young Hylian grinned.

"We've got our key, Gary!" he exclaimed. "I'm coming back, now!" Placing the key securely in his pocket, he made his way carefully back across the rusty grating. There being nothing left in the room, the boys returned to the previous room to unlock the other door and proceed onwards. The room beyond contained simply a set of stairs leading to a raised area with a rickety ladder to an upper room. Link frowned and clenched his torch between his teeth- he suspected there was every chance he would need it again. After testing one rung of the ladder and finding it climb-worthy, the fair Hylian did just that, with Gary following right after him.

"I gotta say," the Gerudo grunted as they climbed, "if Sato really _was_ chased by some giant armored fiend, I give it kudos that it managed to climb all the way back up this damned ladder before we came in." As Link hoisted himself into the next room, he dropped his torch near the wall and looked around. The room was small, but it was covered in large chunks of rock at the sides, and once especially large, random-seeming rock in the middle of the room. The door to the next room was barred, and the only other way out was a large hole in the top of the wall opposite said barred door, where light was pouring through. Gary finally heaved himself up as Link was pondering a way to climb the wall.

"How do you suppose we continue, here?" he asked as the panting Gerudo joined him. "Should we start piling rocks, or what?" Gary frowned thoughtfully.

"I don't think so," he said after a moment. "What's with that big, random rock in the middle of the room? It's a little out of place." Link spared it a glance.

"You think so?" Gary nodded.

"Yeah. What say we move it and see what happens?"

"Alright." The friends stared at the rock and moved around it, trying to think of the best way to get it out of the way. "...Well, we could use your halberd. 'Give me a lever long enough, and I can throw a goron' is how the saying goes, isn't it?" Gary cocked an eyebrow.

"Dude, my halberd's shaft is _wood_," he said dryly. Link snorted; Gary rolled his eyes. "Oh, _grow up_."

"Hey, since you got it this morning, does that make it your _morning wood_?"

"Focus, Glaradith!" Gary snapped. "We're not using the damned halberd, and if you make one more joke about it, I swear, I'll gut you." Link snickered. "Come over to my side, let's push it." When they had both braced themselves against the large rock, they simultaneously began to shove, and inch by inch, the boulder slowly moved, revealing a sculpture of a sleeping sun on the floor. As the two boys stepped away to get a better view of it, the light fell onto it completely, and its eyes opened as it smiled. The bars on the door retracted with a loud scraping sound, and the two friends whirled around to face it.

"Well, that was oddly convenient," Link commented, "I guess we move on!" He stopped to pick up his torch as Gary opened the door, and they made their way into the next room.

This one was large- _very_ large- and housed a giant statue of the Goddess of the Desert, an ancient Gerudo deity that was presently considered to actually be Din. She was dressed in traditional Gerudo clothing, but her beauty was unnatural; both of her arms were missing, the one nearest them just under the shoulder, and the far one more towards the elbow, its matching hand lying on the floor and missing chunks, itself. There were two stairwells leading to an upper lever, but the other one looked inaccessible at the moment; the boy settled for the stairs closer to them, and took them up to a door leading them back towards the Temple's front and through a curving hallway.

"You know, I wonder how much further we have to go," Link grumbled, leading the way as the hallway was almost as pitch-black as the torch room. "This is getting long, drawn-out, and ridiculous- how long have we been in here, anyways?"

"I dunno," Gary sighed, "a couple hours, maybe? It doesn't feel like it was that long, but who knows."

"Either way, I'm getting hungry. Do you have any more of those little protein balls?" At Gary's affirmative, they stopped and sat down to eat, rekindling the flame each time it went out. At the rate the fire was burning their torch, they would have to get a new one, soon. When the friends had ingested their share of the protein balls, they stood and continued down the curvy hallway until they came across the door to the next room.

Once again, the room was pitch-black; Gary and Link scrounged around until they found ashes, which led them directly to a standing torch, which they lit. Gary proceeded to find a stick of his own to light, and they split up, finding and lighting no less than five more torches. With each standing torch lit, the room became more clear- there were half-walls everywhere, with the rusted, broken remains of some mechanical beings on them, along with more broken spike-traps on the floor. There was another block with a sleeping sun, and another barred door in the corner.

"Damn," Gary swore, "how are we supposed to activate the stupid thing when we don't have any sunlight in the room?"

"Well, does it have to be sunlight?" Link replied. "I mean, it's not like the thing has solar panels, there's now way they knew about UV rays when they invented this. Maybe it just needs to be heated up?" So saying, he touched the flaming end of his carrying torch to the sun statue and waited. He and Gary stared at it for a minute as it did nothing.

"Well, that couldn't have not worked any better," the Gerudo said at last. "What's plan b?"

"I'm working on it," Link replied irritably. He glanced around the room, and then finally, up. There was an odd patch of wall, as though it were scar tissue, and it was strangely textured. He squinted at it, tilting his head ever so slightly. "I... think that's wood. Maybe..." He glanced down at his torch, then back up at the boarded-up piece of wall- then, with all his might, he threw the torch at the wooden boards, missing them entirely. Gary snorted; Link glared at him and picked his torch back up, throwing it again.

The torch touched the boards this time, the fire catching from one to the other, and Link grinned triumphantly as he watched the boarding burn. Eventually, pieces started falling away, and enough light was let in through the hole to catch the sun statue, activating it and effectively opening the door.

"You know," Link mused as they continued on up a long flight of stairs, "this would be so much easier if Sato had told us exactly how far to go and exactly what we were looking for." Gary hummed his agreement. As they reached the top of the stairs, they came to another door, and Link groaned. The two entered and paused to look around the new room. It was long and a little narrow, with several large pillars standing and several more collapsed. A large suit of rusted armor stood at the other side of the room, in front of a doorway out of the temple. Link frowned as he continued to look, though, something small near one of the fallen pillars caught his eye, and he jogged over to see what it was.

It was a mask, smooth and glazed, though possibly made of clay underneath. It looked like some sort of desert cat, possibly a mountain lion, though with large, curling demonic fangs made of what seemed to be the finest Gerudo glass. It must have been what Sato was after- and Link had to admit, it was very pretty. It would be a great addition to the shop, and Sato would be able to recreate it well enough to-

"LINK, LOOK OUT!" Link blinked and turned just in time to see the suit of rusted armor standing over him, pulling a giant sword back to swing at him. With a yelp, he dived out of the way, taking care to not break the mask. He ran quickly towards the door, but paused when he realized Gary wasn't following him. He turned back to see the Gerudo with his halberd at the ready, pointing the bladed end at the demonic armor.

"Gary, what the hell are you doing?" Link snapped. "It's slow, let's get out of here!" The armor was indeed advancing slowly; whoever was in it was obviously having a hard time moving.

"I'm not running!" Gary said resolutely. "I'm not afraid of anything!" Alas, both his breaking voice and shaking arms betrayed him.

"Don't be an idiot, Gary, let's _go_!" Link cried. Gary didn't reply right away. Suddenly, he let out a fierce war cry and charged, swinging his halberd at the joints of the armored beast. The blade bounced right off, and the monster counter attacked; Gary was barely able to dodge. Link swore under his breath and dropped his bag on the floor, shoving the mask inside and pulling out his dagger (like _that_ would be of any help, here). "Dammit... Viscen was right..." With a battle cry of his own, Link joined the fight, rushing at the rusted armor and leaping, trying to get in close enough to stab through the cracks to whoever was inside. He was suddenly met with a back-hand to his gut, which knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying backwards; the monster was advancing on him, now, and once he managed to catch his breath he grasped his dagger. As he turned to get up, he found himself directly in the path of the monster's raised sword, and his eyes widened as the blade came down at him- suddenly, however, the monster roared in pain- Gary had stabbed it from the back with his halberd. Link took that moment to scramble out of the way, ignoring the searing pain in his ribs as he moved.

"Link!" Gary cried as he backed away from the armored beast, the blade of his halberd dripping with thick, green blood. "I think I have an idea!"

"Do tell!" Link cried back as he tried to take advantage of the monster's occupied attention to get in close enough to stab it with his dagger.

"Alright- you've got that little dagger and can't get in without it hitting you, right?" Gary leaped over a sweeping attack. "Why don't you lure it so I can get around back and stab it with my halberd?" Link edged a little closer to the rusted armor and leaped back as it turned and tried to backhand him, again.

"Sounds good to me- here's your shot!" Gary dashed forward and stabbed his halberd into the opening in the back of the armor, again, this time twisting the blade as he pulled it back out. The monster roared again and spun around, swinging its giant sword with even more ferocity. One of its swings nicked Gary in the side, and the Gerudo let out a yelp. Link charged back in, jumping this time to try and actually lodge his dagger into the monster; another whirling backhand sent him flying, and this time Link was certain he heard something break as he landed and rolled to a stop on the floor.

On the bright side, he had a very good view of Gary pulling the exact same stunt he did, only, it worked the Gerudo, and he stabbed the blade of his halberd deep into the monster, twisting it several more times before tearing it back out. The rusted armor collapsed to the floor, the different pieces scattering as they hit, and nothing was left behind save for a swirling black-and-purple smoke. Gary took a few moment to catch his breath before rushing over to Link, looking seriously concerned.

"Hey- hey, Link, dude, are you alright?" He helped the blond sit up, and Link grimaced and hissed at the fire in his ribcage.

"No, no I- I think-" He was cut off as he turned to vomit, steadying himself with his palms. Gary's nose wrinkled in disgust, and he hurried to Link bag to find the bottle of water, hurrying back over to force Link to drink it. After nearly downing the entire contents of the bottle, the Gerudo slid one arm around Link, pulling one of the Hylian's own arms over his shoulder as he helped him stand.

"C'mon, it's not far to the exit, I can help you-"

"Dammit, Gary, it's my ribs, not my legs, alright? I can walk on my own!" Wrapping his other arm around his ribs to further protect them, Link returned to his bag, pulling it over one shoulder. "Come on. Let's go." The way back to the main entrance of the Temple was uneventful, and took far less time than getting to the room with the monster in it. Link had a bit of trouble on the ladders, but otherwise, neither of them had to stop, and once they had crawled back through the tunnel out, Link pulled the mask out of his bag. "Sato! Sato, we have the mask! ...Sato?" When the mask salesman didn't respond, Link frowned and sat down on the stairs.

"Damn him." Gary scowled. "He sends us in to do his job and he won't even wait for us?"

"What _was_ that thing, anyways?" Link asked, sighing. "It had one hell of a punch..."

"I dunno, it... it looked like it had one of those Iron Knuckle swords," Gary said, sitting down next to him. Link scowled.

"You can't expect me to believe that was a _magic demon_, do you?" he asked. "At _best_ it could have been an ancient, automated security robot- didn't they find traces of some hyper-advanced ancient civilizations around here a few years ago?" Gary shrugged.

"I dunno what to tell you, Link," he said. "It looked like an Iron Knuckle to me. But, hey, let's no sit around- we should get someone to look at you." Link whined in protest as Gary pulled him to his feet. They had to stop half-way to camp for Link to vomit again, but otherwise the return trip was just as uneventful as their way out of the temple. When they got to camp, it was just as empty, as well.

"What the hell's going on, here?" Link snapped. "Where _is_ everybody?" Gary frowned and glanced down at their shadows.

"Hey, what time were we supposed to be back, to catch the bus?"

"Four, why?"

"Oh. It's almost five." Link groaned.

"Can this day get _any_ worse?" he asked, plopping down on the sand. He was starting to feel tired; Gary said something, and though he heard him, it seemed unintelligible to him. _That's it_, Link thought, _I'm dreaming. I understand now. _His eyelids slowly began to lower. _I guess... I'll just... go back to sleep..._ The last thing he saw was Gary standing over him, looking frantic, his mouth moving but no sound reaching Link's ears, and then- nothing. The world went black.

* * *

**A/N: So, yeah, as demonstrated by this chapter, one, the only dungeons I'm using are ones already established, and, two, I'm rerouting all of them and changing some of the puzzles to coincide with how much time has passed since the original games. I'm also hoping to write the dungeon scenes so they look like something you'd actually find in a videogame, as opposed to the manga-style dungeons where Link falls in with Random Helper who just so happens to have the item Link needs to beat the boss who is miraculously right there. I do make maps of the rerouted dungeons, and I'll probably eventually put them up on my Deviantart, but the one I've done for the Child portion of the Spirit Temple has spoilers all over it, so I'll wait on that one.**

**Oh, also, that "Rime of the Wanderin' Seafarer" is a legit song, you should google it or look for it on youtube. I found it on ocremix; the guy who did it goes by the name of zyko. Guy's amazing.  
**

**Each time you don't review, Demise eats a puppy. Save a puppy. Review a chapter.**


	3. Return to Castle City

******To those of you who reviewed, congratulations! You saved a puppy from Demise! You are now known as a Hero of Puppies!**

The first thing that Link noticed when he awoke was a slight pounding in his head; the second was the sharp pain in his ribs as he sat up too fast. He found himself on a limestone floor, with the heat of the desert beating down upon him from an opening in a wall, and with a thoroughly bandaged torso. Idly, he wondered just how long he'd been out. The last thing he remembered was fighting the... _thing_... in the temple, and taking the mask outside, only to find Sato seemingly vanished. That had been a little later into the day, but one quick look out the window told the fair Hylian that it was now probably closer to morning. As he was busy trying to figure out what happened, the cloth hanging in the doorway was pushed aside, and a Gerudo came in, eying Link almost wearily.

"You're awake," she said simply. Link peered at her curiously.

"Where am I?" he asked after a moment. The gerudo snorted.

"The Fortress. One of ours brought you here unconscious, though I don't know why he bothered." Her mild disdain became a sneer. "Bleach-skins like _you_ coming into the desert are _asking_ for trouble." Link frowned. This wasn't exactly how he'd imagined visiting the Gerudo Fortress; in his mind, there had been much less angry Gerudo and more goofing off with Gary. And speaking of...

"Oh!" Link felt himself straighten a little, his eyebrows raising in concern. "Where's Gary? Is he okay? I think he got cut, I couldn't tell how bad it-" The gerudo cut him off.

"He's fine. He took some herbs for himself and said he was going to the archery range, though why he was so adamant that we needed to take care of _you_ first is beyond me..." She turned to a small table and grabbed Link's bag, tossing it to him. He managed to catch it before it hit the ground, thankfully, and a quick check found the mask inside still intact. "I filled your bottle with medicine and put herbs in there. If it starts to smart, chew on the herbs, and take a sip of the medicine every night before bed until your ribs heal."

"Oh, uhm, thank-"

"Now get out." Puzzled by the abruptness of the gerudo, Link slipped his bag over his shoulder and stood slowly, leaving the room as she continued to sneer at him. Maybe she was just having a bad day, he mused. It took some wandering and stumbling into random rooms, but eventually Link found his way out of the building (he had come to conclusion that it was some sort of hospital) and out into the hot desert morning. Gusts of warm wind blew as he made his way further into the fortress, passing by Gerudo children chasing each other around and playing and adult Gerudo shopping in the bazaar or selling their wares. Each and every one of them paused whatever they were doing as he passed by, fixing the fair Hylian with dirty stares and generally making him feel very out of place and uncomfortable. The guards seemed endlessly disturbed by his presence- there were at least two that he was sure of that were following him. Suddenly the idea of being in the fortress didn't seem as fun anymore, and he hunched slightly in an attempt to make himself smaller.

He found himself having to stop at one of the stalls to buy a canteen, his throat being completely dry and his stomach tied in knots from having literally almost every eye on him. He placed a red and a blue rupee on the counter and selected a nice, green-dyed one, and was painfully aware of the stall owner's piercing gaze on him as he turned away to dip it into the barrel of water she kept next to the shop.

"Uhm, sorry," he murmured as he turned back to her, "but how can I get to the archery range from here?" She glanced him over, her eyes softening a bit as she took in his lost, frightened demeanor.

"Go down the path here and keep going, you'll get there eventually," she said, jerking her head to her right. Link thanked her with a small, strained smile, and began once more down the street, this time at a quicker pace. He was pretty sure the guards had stopped following him once he left the bazaar, but as the canyon narrowed into a small path, he was convinced the couple gerudo hanging around in the shadows would shank him the moment his back was turned. Several glances over his shoulder after he passed assured him that they had virtually no interest in him, thankfully, and he arrived at the range unharmed.

As soon as he felt comfortable enough to spare a glance around, he took in his surroundings- there were a few gerudo teaching their young daughters to shoot with child-sized bows off towards the right, and a few more were tending to horses tied to posts by an overhang. There were many targets set up against the canyon walls, and two at either end of a long track at the top of posts. The only male gerudo he could find were in a small, open space, circling each other on their own horses as they practiced their mounted combat- and neither of the two were Gary. One was tall and broad while the other was soft-looking with a pair of glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose. Link watched them for a little while- at least, until a loud cry of "heyyah!" caught his attention.

He turned around just in time to see Gary spur his horse into action, a young black stallion with red eyes blazing as hot as the desert sun. As the horse barreled down the track, Gary pulled a bow off of his shoulder and drew an arrow from his quiver, pulling it back and letting it fly. Link watched on, amazed, as his gangly friend proceeded to hit the bullseye on each and every target he passed, despite how fast his mount was galloping. Gary maneuvered his horse wonderfully as he rounded the post and shot, nearly hitting the bullseye on both its front and its back, and while Link was marginally more impressed than he'd been moments before, Gary looked pissed off to no end. He fired more bullseyes into the targets by the wall before tugging at the reigns, his horse skidding to a stop. Link found himself grinning.

"Hey, Gary!" he called. "Nice shooting!" Gary whirled around, staring at him with wide eyes as other gerudo looked over, highly amused. He glanced around at them uncertainly before jogging over to Link.

"Dude!" he hissed as soon as he was within hissing distance. "Why'd you leave the hospital?" Link frowned.

"Nice to see you, too," he replied defensively. "The girl there kicked me out almost as soon as I woke up." Gary groaned.

"Ugh! Damn, I should have seen that coming, Ysel _hates_ knife-ears..." He sighed heavily. "Oh, well. Can't be helped, I guess. At least you'll stop whining about going to the training grounds." The young gerudo turned to holler for someone to put his horse in the shade, and as several gerudo ran to do just that, Link noticed the two other males who had been previously sparring coming over to join them. Gary groaned again. "Oh, jeez, of _all_ the..."

"Are they not your friends?" By the way they were grinning, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Gary!" the broad one greeted as they finally drew near. "You didn't tell us the one you dragged back was a knife-ears! I thought Dinnas talked you into cave-running, again!"

"I'm surprised he's still alive," the bespectacled one snickered, "bleach-skins are notoriously frail."

"Guys...!" Gary protested. "Lay off, he broke two ribs and bruised, like, three!"

"And yet, here you stand with but a scratch, oh mighty warrior!" the first laughed. "You know what they say; never send a Hylian to do a Gerudo's job!"

"Yeah," Link agreed, smirking, "too bad Gerudo have terrible immune systems. I bet I'll give you all some horrible disease just by breathing at you- see how strong you are, then."

"I like this one!" the first laughed. "I'm Kallah Raziv." He held out his hand firmly, which Link shook.

"Link Glaradith." Gary stared on, dumbfounded.

"But... but you guys...," he stammered. The bespectacled one snickered again.

"What, you think we'd chew him up just for being Hylian? I thought you said he was your friend," he replied.

"Azael-!" Link smiled as he watched them bicker like old friends- of course, he reminded himself, they probably were. Gary probably had loads of Gerudo friends who were closer to him than Link was- they'd only met in the seventh grade, after all. Sometimes he forgot that fact.

"So how long have you all known each other?" he piped in just before Gary and Kallah started beating each other up. Gary shifted awkwardly; Kallah looked thoughtful.

"I'm not sure how long, exactly," he replied after a moment, "but before any of us can remember. We're all in the same age group, you know?" Link blinked, wondering if that was supposed to mean anything to him.

"Let me put it this way," Azael tried, "we're all the same age, and we're the only males in our age group. If we _didn't_ know each other, something would be _very_ wrong. While we live and fight alongside our sisters, there's something comforting about being able to get in a group with nothing but other men."

"I guess that's something us knife-ears take for granted," Link added thoughtfully. "I knew Gerudo men were hard to come by, but I didn't think it was _that_ hard, any more."

"There's one more of us, but he lives in Termina, and we rarely hear from him." Kallah shrugged. "His name's Ra'al, he loves the sea, and he's a damn good smuggler, so he's always out on a voyage of some sort. I hear he's getting his own ship this year, he's planning on calling it the _Goddess Flame_ or something."

"Now, there's something," Link said, "we have Kallah, Azael, and Ra'al- Gary, what the hell's up with your name?" Gary's awkward shift became worse, and he was pointedly avoiding Link's gaze, now, as were Kallah and Azael. "Uhm... sorry. Did I hit a nerve?" No one replied.

"Didn't you say you called a cab?" Azael finally asked after a sufficient amount of awkward. Gary nodded, scuffing at the ground with his shoe. Link looks between the three Gerudo uneasily. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he knew that whatever it was, a knife-ears like him would definitely never understand. Perhaps the translated version of Gary's name was rather awkward in common conversation. Either way it looked like Link would have to drop the subject for now.

"You called, Gary?" he asked. "I thought you didn't get bars all the way out here in the desert." Gary shrugged one shoulder almost noncommittally.

"I don't," he replied. He gestured broadly back towards market. "There's an old payphone back by the spice stall, rotary dial and everything. It's left over from when that one old phone company tried to expand its business to the desert." He glanced at his watch. "They'll be here really soon. We should head out of the fortress." Link pouted.

"Just when I got in, too...," he whined. "Alright. Let's go, I guess." He waited for Gary, Azael, and Kallah to have their good-bye hugs, and once they had, he and Gary set off back through the market and towards the gates leading out of the fortress. Fewer gerudo seemed to stare at him, probably because they figured Gary was keeping an eye on him. Though, the journey was a _little_ odd- some gerudo seemed to stare not at him, but at Gary, and with some sort of reverence- Link sensed there was a story in there, somewhere, but he wasn't too keen on asking questions since Gary had pretty much flat-out refused to answer his last one. They continued to walk on in silence, eventually stopping when they reached the paved road outside of the Gerudo's Fortress. Gary watched a tumbleweed blow by idly before digging in his bag for a protein ball. Link watched the road for any sign of the cab.

"...I'm sorry," Gary said around half a protein ball approximately five minutes later.

"Sorry for what?" Link replied absent-mindedly. He'd found great interest in trying to catch some Gerudo dragonflies that were buzzing around as they waited.

"For back there. With the guys. And... Ysel and everyone else." He peered over his shoulder to find his friend staring self-consciously at the road as he munched. "I know they all gave you a hard time. Well, not Kallah and Azael so much, they seemed okay with you, but... there were guards following us out, did you notice?" Link paused and thought, quickly shaking his head no. He hadn't noticed, actually. He'd assumed that since so many people were busy staring at Gary and not him, he'd been either forgotten or deemed pretty much harmless.

"I guess I should have expected that," Link replied after yet another failed attempt to capture a dragonfly. "There were a couple following me when I went to try and find you. Oh, by the way, I didn't embarrass you, did I?" Gary cocked an eyebrow.

"What, when I was on my horse? Not really, I guess. It's just, that one shot always gets me, y'know? I was a little frustrated." He offered the bag of protein balls, and Link grabbed a couple to munch on. "I'm just gonna have to find a away to practice."

"Hey, we could always try hitting the shooting gallery downtown." Now that the awkward silence had finally been broken, the two boys carried on as always, laughing and goofing off and making plans for things to do over the week-long vacation they had coming up. When the cab finally got there, they piled into the back seat and requested transport back to Castle City. The seven-hour drive felt long, and a few times Link had to make use of the pain killers Ysel had given him, but for the most part, nothing interesting happened. Well, alright, there _was_ that one guy who sped by on the new Epona model motorcycle by LonLon Inc, and Link couldn't help but feel extremely jealous as he did so, but other than that, there wasn't _anything_ interesting. The fare was pretty expensive, by the time they got into town- almost one hundred rupees- but between the two of them, they managed to pay it off and leave before it got much worse, and walked the rest of the way back to Viscen's flat.

Of course, needless to say, Viscen was kind of pissed.

"Gary. Mahas," he greeted, dangerously calm as the boys entered the living room. He stood from his strategic position on the couch and crossed his arms as he stared them down with that expression he usually reserved only for the times Link came home drunk- and after the first couple times that happened, Link made absolutely _sure_ to never do it ever again.

"Uhm... hi, Mr. Glaradith," Gary replied, grinning. "Lovely evening, isn't it?" Link had the right of mind to keep his mouth firmly shut.

"You were supposed to be back_ yesterday_ evening." Link squirmed uncomfortably.

"Well, you know, stuff came up and we stayed the night at the Fortress, and, uhm..." Gary laughed nervously. Viscen did not seem amused.

"Gary, your mother came looking for you yesterday," the guard said after a moment. "She said she needed to speak to you urgently. You need to go home, now." Gary winced and shot Link an apologetic look, which said fair Hylian mirrored right back at him. Gary quickly spun around and left. Viscen and Link were both quiet for a moment.

"...You know, what happened, it's actually a _really great_ story-" Link began. Viscen immediately cut him off.

"_Mahas. Glaradith._" Ohhhhh, shit, he was in trouble, he was in _such_ trouble... Link lowered his head a little at Viscen's intense glare. "How _dare you_ worry me like that, young man! You'll be lucky if I let you _go to work_ this week!"

"But- but _Dad_, I can explain-!"

"_No_! No, alright?! I don't want to hear any Goddesses-forsaken _excuses_! You were supposed to have your cellphone with you the _entire time_! If you had gotten stranded, you _could have called_! I would have come to get you, Mahas!"

"I would have, I swear, but I didn't get bars all the way out there, and to top it off-!"

"Then how the hell did you get back?! Don't _even_ try to tell me you rode a damned horse all the way back!"

"No, Gary called a cab using a payphone, but-!"

"Then why didn't you do that in the first place?!"

"Because I got hurt, alright?!" It seemed Viscen didn't have a response Link's shout; he merely stared, surprised, and Link took the opportunity. "Sato showed up and dropped his mask inside the Spirit Temple because something scared him, and he asked Gary and I to get it for him, and I thought it would be okay, I mean, Gary had his halberd and I had a dagger and we were _super careful_, but..." Viscen sighed heavily and motioned for Link to sit on the couch with him.

"Is that what the bandages are all about?" the guard asked quietly once they'd both had a moment to calm down. Link nodded. "Would you mind if I took a look?" Link shrugged one shoulder and fiddled with the bandages, unwrapping them once they were loose enough. There were large, dark bruises around his ribs and chest, and Viscen frowned deeply upon seeing them.

"Wow. Those look like they smart a bit." Link couldn't help but laugh a bit, though with the pain killers wearing off again, it hurt a little. "What happened? You didn't try forcing your way into the Fortress, did you?"

"No." Link shook his head and smiled sheepishly. "Like I said, Sato asked us to go get a mask for him, but, at the end... there was this, well- this _thing_. It was big and armored and had a huge sword, and I was gonna run, but Gary decided to stay and fight, so I hung back to help him..." He grimaced. "Turns out a dagger isn't all that useful."

"I'm glad you're safe, but... you fought an _Iron Knuckle_?" Viscen raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't believe in them, Mahas." Link rolled his eyes and went about wrapping the bandages back around his torso.

"I don't," he replied. "I don't know what it was, exactly, but it can't have been an Iron Knuckle." It was Viscen's turn to laugh, now, and he ruffled Link's hair affectionately.

"Well, then. I was going to ground you for the entire length of the festival, this year, but I guess getting beaten so badly by something that doesn't exist is punishment enough. Now, go change into some normal clothes, I've got night duty this week, and Zelda's been dying to see you again." Link didn't need telling twice- he leaped up and ran to his room to do just that.

They took the subway to get to the castle, which ended up being a more-or-less five minute ride, and once they had gone through all of the security checkpoints, Viscen escorted Link to Zelda's garden and then went to his regular station and patrol. Link glanced around- night was about to fall, so the lanterns were already lit, as were the underwater lights in the fountain. Fireflies danced here and there, and the sweet smell of flowers joined them. All in all, Link always found Zelda's garden to be a rather relaxing, pretty place to be. He stood around for a while, admiring the scene, until finally he decided to sit at the ornate metal table in the center of it all and wait for Zelda. She was escorted in a few minutes later, carrying her harp, a foam sword, and a brightly-wrapped box. Link stood when he saw her and smiled.

She was beautiful, in every sense of the word. Her blond hair flowed gracefully over her shoulders and back, and her kind blue eyes radiated warmth. She wore a light jacket over her babydoll t-shirt and capris, as well as a nice pair of sandals. The first thing she did as soon as her escort was gone was run over and drop her things to the grass, giving Link the largest hug she could muster.

"Welcome back, Link!" she said, smiling. "It's been way too long!" After one final squeeze that left Link's ribs protesting vehemently, she let go, and the two sat together.

"It really has," Link agreed. "But there was no way I'd skip coming to see you before the festival. You're playing Hylia, after all, aren't you?"

The Festival of the Goddess, as it was called, was kind of a big deal in Hyrule. It celebrated Hylia, Din, Nayru, and Farore, and the prosperity they brought the land- it also celebrated the Hero of Spirit, who saved the land countless times and in countless forms. The entire festival took seven days, with all sorts of contests and games and parties. The most important part of the festival was deciding the year's honorary Hero by means of a costume contest, and three trials- one of courage, one of wisdom, and one of power. For each trial completed, the challenger would receive a replica Spiritual Stone, and whoever got all three won the title and played the Hero in the ending ceremonies.

"Yup!" Zelda grinned broadly. "I even made the dress and everything! I'm so excited, I can't wait!" She tilted her head and leaned forward slightly. "You're going to compete for the Hero this year, right? I mean, you _have to_, it's the first year you can compete for real!" Link rolled his eyes.

"As much as I want to, Zelda, you have to look at the facts, here," he sighed. "I don't turn seventeen until the first day of the festival, and you don't have a _chance_ of winning the prelims unless you have a shield and sword. Where would I be able to find a good sword _that quickly_ that I could afford?" Zelda pouted.

"I guess you're right...," she agreed. "Well... either way, you should at least try. That reminds me!" She brightened immediately and leaned over to grab the brightly-colored box she had brought with her. "Here, this is for you, since I won't be able to see you on your birthday. Go on- open it!" Under Zelda's watchful eye, Link took the package and carefully removed the wrapping. He hummed a little tune as he cut the tape apart and pried open the box to find...!

His hat.

He held it up in the air dramatically for a moment before putting it on, laughing.

"Thanks, Zelda, I'm sorry I keep forgetting it-" The princess cut him off.

"That wasn't all of it, Link, pull the separator out." Link glanced down into the box to find, indeed, there was a piece of cardboard laying on top of something, and shrugging, he removed it, humming his little tune again until he found what it was that was buried beneath so much bubblewrap.

It was a wooden shield, big enough for an adult to use but still small enough to be less useless than the Hylian shield Viscen always carried around on-duty. Nevertheless, it was beautiful, made of a dark wood and polished, with intricate carvings in the surface depicting the mythical loftwing. Link fingered it gently, not wanting to get too many fingerprints on its sleek surface.

"Wow," he said after a moment. "Just... _wow_. Zelda, thank you so much, this shield is _amazing_." Zelda giggled.

"You'll need it if you want to win the title," she said. "I wouldn't worry about finding a sword, too much. I'm sure things will work themselves out, eventually." When Link didn't respond, she glanced up towards the sky. "You know, in all of the old legends, something awful always happens on the most important festival of the year. Have you noticed? _Twilight Princess_, _Minish Cap_, _Majora's Mask_... In all of those myths, there was a festival." She gazed back at Link.

"I know it's silly," she continued, "but I'm a little nervous. What if something like that happens during the festival, this year? If it does, we'll need a good hero to save us all." Link laughed; Zelda glared. "It's not funny, Link, what if it does?"

"Nothing's gonna happen, Zelda," he replied. "I can promise you that." Zelda sighed heavily and then stood, grabbing the foam sword and holding it out to Link.

"Come on," she said, "let's practice!" Link took the handle and nodded, standing and following Zelda towards a more open space. "Alright, show me your ready stance!"

"Like this?"

"Ah, I forgot, you're a lefty...! Here, like _this_..."

It was weird, Link thought as Zelda continued to help him practice his swordplay. Despite what he had said, he was anxious. Maybe it was because of the odd happenings at the Spirit Temple, or maybe it was just because he was panicking about where he would find a decent sword in time for the festival- either way, it was a bad feeling, and though he and Zelda practiced through the night, he couldn't help but shake the feeling that, indeed, something terrible would happen.

He had to scold himself several times for being ridiculous. Those sorts of things only happened in the legends... right?

* * *

**I know this one was a little shorter, and that it took a little longer than usual, but I was actually having a really hard time figuring out how I wanted the festival to go... Well, you're getting it next chapter, at least, and then the plot will start. Maybe. In the meantime, review! Every time you don't review, the Happy Mask Salesman will haunt your nightmares. Save a dream. Review a chapter.**


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